Classical planet

 ( Ancient Astronomy ) 

Each planet is said to be carried in a ship. Drawings of these ships are found in various Mandaean scriptures, such as the Scroll of Abatur. The planets are listed according to the traditional Mandaean order of the planets as mentioned in Masco (2012).

A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols. The modern Sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot (☉), first appeared in the Renaissance.

The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of the Roman seven-day week. Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the Romans and they were named after the classical planets; for example, in Spanish Miércoles is Mercury, and in French mardi is Mars-day.

The modern English days of the week were mostly inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse culture – Wednesday is Odin’s-day ( Wōden or Wettin eqv. Mercury), Thursday is Thor’s-day (Thor eqv. Jupiter), Friday is Frigg-day (Frige eqv. Venus). Equivalence here is by the gods' roles; for instance, Venus and Frige were both goddesses of love. It can be correlated that the Norse gods were attributed to each Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the planets. A vestige of the Roman convention remains in the English name Saturday.

Alchemy in the Western world and other locations where it was widely practiced was (and in many cases still is) allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search for occult (knowledge that is not common i.e. the occult). Astrology has used the concept of classical elements from antiquity up until the present day today. Most modern astrologers use the four classical elements extensively, and indeed they are still viewed as a critical part of interpreting the astrological chart.

Traditionally, each of the seven planets in the Solar System as known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal.

The list of rulership is as follows:

• The Sun rules Gold ()
• The Moon, Silver ()
• Mercury, Quicksilver/Mercury ()
• Venus, Copper ()
• Mars, Iron ()
• Jupiter, Tin ()
• Saturn, Lead ()

Some alchemists (e.g. Paracelsus) adopted the Hermetic Qabalah assignment between the vital organs and the planets as follows:

• Antikythera mechanism
• Behenian fixed star
• List of former planets
• Monas Hieroglyphica of John Dee
• Olympian spirits
• Worship of heavenly bodies
• Wufang Shangdi (the Classical planets in Chinese mythology).
• Navagraha (the Classical planets in Hindu mythology).

• Chronology of Solar System Discovery